Background: Proof Blocks is a software tool that enables students to construct proofs by assembling prewritten lines and gives them automated feedback. Prior work on learning gains from Proof Blocks has focused on comparing learning gains from Proof Blocks against other learning activities such as writing proofs or reading. Purpose: The study described in this paper aims to compare learning gains from different variations of Proof Blocks. Specifically, we attempt to quantify the difference in learning gains for students who complete Proof Blocks problems with and without distractors. Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial with three experimental groups: a control group that completed an off-topic Proof Blocks activity, one that completed a \tool{} activity without distractors, and one that completed a Proof Blocks activity with distractors. All three groups read a book chapter on proof by induction before completing their activity. Findings: The group that completed the Proof Blocks activity with distractors performed better on the posttest than the group that completed the Proof Blocks without distractors, who in turn performed better than the group that completed the off-topic Proof Blocks activity. However, none of these differences were statistically significant. While the results of this study are inconclusive, we hope that it can serve as a foundation for future work.

翻译：背景：Proof Blocks是一款软件工具，使学生能够通过组装预编写的代码行来构建证明，并为其提供自动反馈。先前关于Proof Blocks学习效果的研究主要集中在将其与写作证明或阅读等其他学习活动进行对比。目的：本研究旨在比较不同变体Proof Blocks的学习效果。具体而言，我们试图量化学生在完成含干扰项与不含干扰项的Proof Blocks问题时的学习效果差异。方法：我们开展了一项随机对照试验，设置三个实验组：对照组完成一项非主题Proof Blocks活动，一组完成无干扰项的Proof Blocks活动，另一组完成含干扰项的Proof Blocks活动。所有三组在完成活动前均阅读了关于归纳法证明的教材章节。发现：完成含干扰项Proof Blocks活动的小组在后测中表现优于完成无干扰项Proof Blocks活动的小组，而后者表现又优于完成非主题Proof Blocks活动的小组。然而，这些差异均未达到统计显著性。尽管本研究结果尚无定论，但我们希望它能为未来研究奠定基础。